# Hamilton's Kansas Senate run News · Heat 9.9 / 10 · 11 shows · 1h 54m airtime Reverend Adam Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor who founded a 24,000-member Kansas church, became the Democratic Senate nominee on October 2, 2026, against Senator Roger Marshall. New York Times polling found the race tied with Hamilton's net favorability at plus 12, and he raised $10 million last quarter to Marshall's less than $1 million. Former governors Mike Hayden, Bill Graves and David Rankin back him, more than 100 Kansas Republicans endorsed him, and the Livestock Association PAC declined to endorse Marshall. The discussion has moved to his ceiling: in the Times-Siena batch he is the one Democrat below 50, and The Economist's model gives Marshall a slightly higher chance. Coverage now also weighs his careful branding, his pro-life label alongside… Page: https://boilpoints.com/point/hamiltons_kansas_senate_run_2137468453 ## Segments - [What Next](https://boilpoints.com/u/whatnext), 2026-09-29, 32:58 to 35:06: **Adds Hamilton's ad featuring Marshall's patient**. Adds a new development in the Kansas race: Hamilton's campaign released an ad featuring a former patient of Roger Marshall who says police came to her door over a $50 bill. The Ohio Senate race is mentioned only in passing. New angle: Hamilton's campaign released an ad featuring a former patient of Roger Marshall who had police show up at her door over a $50 bill. - [Pod Save America](https://boilpoints.com/u/podsaveamerica), 2026-10-02, 58:55 to 1:20:34: **Interviews Kansas's Democratic Senate nominee**. Interviews Adam Hamilton, the Democratic Senate nominee in Kansas, about his megachurch background, his Obama administration service, his two-term pledge and 80-year age limit, and his campaign against Roger Marshall. New angle: Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor who founded a 24,000-member church, is the Democratic Senate nominee in Kansas. - [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-06, 3:37 to 5:31: **Brings a fresh Kansas Senate poll**. Brings the Kansas Senate race a fresh poll: a New York Times survey has Marshall and Hamilton tied, with Hamilton posting the highest net favorability of any candidate tested across five states. New angle: New York Times polling shows the Kansas Senate race tied, with Hamilton's net favorability at plus 12. - [The Rest Is Politics: US](https://boilpoints.com/u/therestispoliticsus), 2026-10-12, 1:50 to 21:11: **Walks through the Kansas Senate race**. Long segment on the Kansas race: the Cook shift to toss-up, Marshall's 2025 town-hall booing, the Livestock Association PAC pulling its endorsement, and Hamilton's ABC answers on trans issues and regulation. Adds the PAC's withdrawal and Marshall's 53% Kansas disapproval. New angle: The Livestock Association PAC declined to endorse Marshall this year after backing him before. - [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-13, 4:22 to 5:21: **Adds two Republican governors' endorsements**. Adds two Republican endorsements to the Hamilton file: former Kansas governors Mike Hayden and Bill Graves back the Democrat over Marshall, and accuse Marshall of putting national politics ahead of Kansas. Also notes Hamilton's refusal to back Schumer as leader. New angle: Former Kansas governors Mike Hayden and Bill Graves endorsed Hamilton over Marshall. - [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-13, 5:31 to 7:15: **Adds a debate panelist's crowd read**. A Kansas Reflector reporter who sat on the State Fair debate panel says the crowd was noticeably more irritated with Marshall than with Hamilton, and ties Marshall's vulnerability to tariffs, fuel prices and a rural economy he calls terrible. New angle: A reporter on the State Fair debate panel says the crowd was noticeably more irritated with Marshall than Hamilton. - [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-13, 7:15 to 8:47: **Recaps the centrist pitch and failed attacks**. Carpenter returns to the Kansas race to explain Hamilton's centrist pitch and why Marshall's woke and socialist attacks do not land in a conservative state. Framing and analysis, not a new development. - [The Fox News Rundown](https://boilpoints.com/u/thefoxnewsrundown), 2026-10-16, 15:39 to 17:28: **Lists the endorsements and raises a church investigation**. Sets up the Kansas Senate race with a spending figure and a fuller endorsement roster: more than 100 Kansas Republicans, led by Hayden and Graves, plus former Senate President Dave Kerr and Marshall's primary opponent Paul Naramore. Also raises a church-camp abuse investigation involving Hamilton's congregation. New angle: More than 100 Kansas Republicans endorsed Hamilton, including Dave Kerr and Marshall's primary opponent Paul Naramore. - [The Fox News Rundown](https://boilpoints.com/u/thefoxnewsrundown), 2026-10-16, 17:28 to 27:34: **Interviews Marshall on his bus tour and Trump**. Marshall goes on the record about his own race: a bus tour of more than 200 stops, a defense of his patient-lawsuit record, and a prediction that Trump will rally the base in Kansas next week. New angle: Marshall says Trump will rally the base in Kansas next week. - [Pod Save America](https://boilpoints.com/u/podsaveamerica), 2026-10-18, 1:07:02 to 1:11:10: **Explains why Kansas turned competitive**. Amy Walter walks through why Kansas is competitive: farm-economy pressure from fertilizer, diesel and tariffs, a pastor-outsider nominee who is hard to paint as a typical Democrat, and a weak incumbent. Explanation and framing, not a new development. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-19, 0:19 to 6:46: **Pulls Marshall dodging the Iran war question**. Pulls the CNN clip of Manu Raju asking Marshall whether the president should end the Iran war; Marshall refuses to answer and pivots to calling Hamilton a child sex predator protector. Frames the race as 50-50 and Marshall as a lazy candidate carrying unpopular votes. New angle: In a CNN interview, Marshall declined to say whether the president should end the war with Iran. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-20, 0:15 to 2:56: **Sets the scene with polling and spending**. Opens the episode with the candidates and the case for competitiveness: high-quality state polls showing Hamilton just behind or ahead, and millions redirected by both parties. A scene-setter that retells the polling and spending already on the record. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-20, 3:53 to 7:00: **Explains why Marshall is vulnerable**. Explains why Marshall is vulnerable: the State Fair booing, the medical-debt ads, the cookie-debt story, and a thin campaign operation. Adds the quarter's fundraising split, with Marshall under a million dollars and Hamilton at $10 million. New angle: Marshall raised less than $1 million last quarter while Hamilton raised $10 million. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-20, 11:18 to 14:26: **Rides the bus tour on costs and health care**. Rides along on the Kansas bus tour and finds the race framed around affordability and health care, with outside-group billboards for Hamilton promising lower costs. Explains why beef and Trump's trade decisions became a campaign issue in Dodge City. New angle: Outside-group billboards in Kansas say Adam Hamilton will lower costs and protect health care. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-20, 14:26 to 17:26: **Plays the red-state authenticity pitch**. Plays a clip of Hamilton after a campaign event pitching himself as a Kansas Democrat, a lot different from a New York or Los Angeles Democrat, and citing Laura Kelly and Kathleen Sebelius. Frames it as the red-state authenticity play, with a Wizard of Oz closer at every stop. New angle: Hamilton tells voters a Kansas Democrat is a lot different from a New York or Los Angeles Democrat. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-20, 17:26 to 18:58: **Recaps the pastoral profile and Talarico comparison**. Runs through Hamilton's pastoral profile - Church of the Resurrection as the largest United Methodist church in the country - and compares him to James Talarico in Texas. Notes he recently accused J.D. Vance of not preaching real Christianity, but stays inside the biography already on the record. - [Pod Save America](https://boilpoints.com/u/podsaveamerica), 2026-10-23, 52:39 to 55:42: **Reads the crosstabs on Hamilton's underperformance**. Plays the final Kansas Senate debate exchange on diesel prices, then reads the Times-Siena crosstabs: Hamilton is the one race where the Democratic candidate underperforms the generic ballot, leaving him room to grow with undecided Democratic-leaning voters. New angle: In the Times-Siena batch, Hamilton is the one Democrat running below 50 and underperforming the generic ballot, with many Democratic-leaning undecideds. - [The Daily](https://boilpoints.com/u/thedaily), 2026-10-26, 12:31 to 13:54: **Plays the ad that never says Democrat**. Plays the early Hamilton field ad and notes the word Democrat never appears in it, framing the spot as the clearest example of the party's national strategy of selling candidates as atypical Democrats. New angle: Hamilton's early field ad never uses the word Democrat. - [Today, Explained](https://boilpoints.com/u/todayexplained), 2026-10-26, 2:10 to 4:42: **Describes the worship-service feel of the trail**. Reporter's notebook from a few days trailing Hamilton across Salina, Lindsborg and MAGA-heavy western Kansas. The events felt like worship services, with Hamilton at the center and the crowd joining a hymn; the piece stays inside the campaign's atmosphere rather than adding a development. - [Today, Explained](https://boilpoints.com/u/todayexplained), 2026-10-26, 4:47 to 7:12: **Reports Hamilton's abortion answer at chapel**. Goes to Hamilton's chapel event in Lindsborg and his answer on abortion: he calls himself a radical centrist, supports legal access while saying he is pro-life with a heavy heart, and tells the story of his mother declining her father's offer to fly her to Switzerland for an abortion. New angle: Hamilton says he supports legal abortion while calling himself pro-life with a heavy heart. - [Today, Explained](https://boilpoints.com/u/todayexplained), 2026-10-26, 7:15 to 10:07: **Adds Rankin co-chairing Republicans for Hamilton**. Follows Hamilton's pitch to crossover voters to a Republicans for Hamilton event in Hutchinson and to Ellsworth, where former governor David Rankin and his wife describe eroded community ties under Trump. Adds a named co-chair and Hamilton's own estimate that 30 percent of his event crowds are Republicans. New angle: David Rankin, a lifelong Republican and former Kansas governor, co-chairs Republicans for Hamilton. - [Today, Explained](https://boilpoints.com/u/todayexplained), 2026-10-26, 10:07 to 12:16: **Follows the Ellsworth voter exchange**. Follows Hamilton to Ellsworth, where an older woman asks if he is for illegal immigrants and, after his answer distinguishing criminals from migrants, concludes he is a Democrat. Frames it as the ceiling: he can say he is not a socialist, that there are two genders and that the border needs securing, and still not move some voters. New angle: At an Ellsworth event, a woman asked Hamilton if he is for illegal immigrants and answered his reply with 'that's a Democrat.' - [Today, Explained](https://boilpoints.com/u/todayexplained), 2026-10-26, 12:16 to 14:18: **Frames Hamilton as a hard-to-replicate unicorn**. Zooms out from Kansas to argue Democrats have no choice but to compete for religious voters, who are concentrated in the Senate and Electoral College battlegrounds. Frames Hamilton as a unicorn whose mix of advantages will be hard to replicate. - [The Intelligence from The Economist](https://boilpoints.com/u/theintelligencefromtheeconomist), 2026-10-29, 12:37 to 19:34: **Profiles Hamilton on the Kansas trail**. Profiles Hamilton on the trail in Lawrence: the pastor who looks like a Rotary Club Republican, his family's founding of Hope, Kansas in 1870, and his pitch as an independent-minded Democrat. Adds The Economist's own election model, which still gives Marshall a slight edge, and the Trump and Vance attacks on the stump. New angle: The Economist's election model gives Roger Marshall a slightly higher chance of winning than Hamilton. - [The Rest Is Politics: US](https://boilpoints.com/u/therestispoliticsus), 2026-10-30, 15:15 to 17:07: **Predicts Hamilton wins Kansas**. Predicts Hamilton wins Kansas, arguing J.D. Vance's attacks on his religion hit his whole congregation, the largest Methodist church in the country. A prediction segment that stays inside the race's existing coverage. - [The Bulwark Daily](https://boilpoints.com/u/thebulwarkdaily), 2026-10-30, 46:14 to 49:16: **Reports Hamilton's message on rural hospital closures**. Coaston, fresh off talking to Hamilton, reports his closing message on rural hospital closures: 28 Kansas hospitals at risk of immediate closure, the most in the country, tied to the state's refusal to expand Medicaid. Also notes Marshall campaigning on drag queen story hour and Ted Cruz's presser line about Islamists. New angle: Twenty-eight rural Kansas hospitals are at risk of immediate closure, the most in the country, because Kansas has not expanded Medicaid.